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NHL fun begins if Tavares wants off Island: Cox

The Leafs might be saving up for a defenceman instead, but if John Tavares doesn't sign long-term when the free-agent floodgates open on Canada Day his future will dominate the off-season until it’s resolved.

By next weekend, we’re going to know if John Tavares is buying what the New York Islanders are selling.

If not, be prepared for the latest in a recent string of drawn-out “will he or won’t he” scenarios that get stretched out over months and months in the NHL.

Two years ago, the hockey world waited breathlessly to find out where Mike Babcock planned to coach. The first six months of 2016, meanwhile, were all about whether the Tampa Bay Lightning were going to re-sign star forward Steven Stamkos, or whether he was going to be seduced by the possibility of being the newest star attraction of the Maple Leafs.

Now, Tavares could sign a long-term extension with the Islanders as early as this Saturday. If he doesn’t — and the sense is, he’s not going to — speculation will immediately begin to build about whether he’ll stay with the Isles beyond the expiration of his contract at the end of the 2017-18 season, or whether they will trade him rather than face losing him for nothing as an unrestricted free agent.

What we do know is the Islanders, as an organization, seem to be doing as much as they can to make sure Tavares wants to stay. They signed Doug Weight to a new contract as head coach after Weight took over from Jack Capuano partway through last season and seemed to connect both with Tavares and the team in general.

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GM Garth Snow cut a deal with Vegas to make sure the Golden Knights wouldn’t touch any of his good young Islanders regulars — Brock Nelson, Josh Bailey, Calvin de Haan — who were exposed in the expansion draft. Then, Snow dealt youngster Ryan Strome to Edmonton for the more established Jordan Eberle, giving Tavares a scoring winger to potentially play with. The bigger question is where the Islanders’ future home will be, and that’s not something that’s going to be answered in the near future.

As with Babcock and Stamkos, expect the Leafs to be right at the epicentre of the rumour mill with Tavares, starting this weekend if he doesn’t immediately sign a new deal.

We know the Leafs heaped riches on Babcock and were willing to do the same with Stamkos. Would they do the same with Tavares as a free agent in ’18? Or would they be willing to cough up major assets to get him from the Isles either this off-season or during next season if the Isles decide to move him?

This we know: The drafting of Auston Matthews and his lightning-quick ascension to the role of Toronto’s No. 1 centre changed a lot with the Leafs. That and the fact the Leafs will have to figure out ways to compensate Matthews, William Nylander and Mitch Marner over the next two years may make the club more reluctant to acquire another big-ticket player like Tavares and commit to a long-term contract. A defenceman might now be a higher priority.

Still, if Tavares were to become a Leaf by next season via the trade route, it would immediately vault them into the position of contender in the Eastern Conference. That would have to be tempting for the Brendan Shanahan regime. Let’s see first what Tavares does, or doesn’t do, next weekend.

Other takeaways from last week’s flurry of NHL action and the draft:

Of course Leaf loyalists are going to look at the drafting of Swedish defenceman Timothy Liljegren as a “steal,” and the fact is Liljegren was slotted to be a top-10 pick before contracting mono during the season and falling down the draft charts. A year ago, it would have been inconceivable he would be available at No. 17. That said, Morgan Rielly played only 18 games for Moose Jaw in the 2011-12 season because of a knee injury and that didn’t stop the Leafs from drafting him fifth overall. If more teams had bought into Liljegren’s talent, he wouldn’t have lasted until the 17th pick. So sure, he might be a steal. Or he might be a player who scouts fell out of love with in his draft season because his talent didn’t match the hype.

It must have been awfully tough on Nolan Patrick to hear for two years he was going to be the No. 1 pick of the 2017 NHL draft, only to find on draft night New Jersey preferred Swiss youngster Nico Hischier. You could see the disappointment on the crestfallen Patrick’s face when he was called to the podium second. Analysts cited his hernia issues as a reason for falling behind Hischier, but, like Liljegren, if the Devils were certain he was the best player they would have looked past that. We’ll see how the Flyers, deep in defence talent and with Travis Konecny having fared well as a rookie last year, bring Patrick along. Normally, top NHL picks start in the NHL. Last year, four of the top six picks played in the league. But given Patrick’s injury and the fact he was limited to 33 games last year, Philly might be wise to give him another year in junior.

What exactly are the Chicago Blackhawks up to? After being swept in the first round by Nashville while scoring only three goals, the Hawks made waves last week by dealing Niklas Hjalmarsson to Arizona and swapping Artemi Panarin to Columbus to bring back Brandon Saad. It feels like there’s another shoe to drop here as Chicago tries to get back to the Cup final while Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Duncan Keith are in their prime.

The Flames added goalie Mike Smith and then paid a hefty price to pry Travis Hamonic out of Long Island. The message? Calgary saw Nashville get to the Stanley Cup final and believe they’re capable of doing the same. The key could be whether Sam Bennett, limited to 26 points, can emerge as a greater offensive force next season.

That was an outstanding induction class the Hockey Hall of Fame announced on Monday. Teemu Selanne, Paul Kariya, Mark Recchi and Dave Andreychuk were all elite goal-scoring wingers. Clare Drake was an inspired choice as a builder, and it was great to see the selection committee induct a woman again, this time Danielle Goyette, a long-time veteran of the Canadian national team and now a coach at the University of Calgary. Now, the selection committee just needs to stop taking a year off between inducting women. So many more deserve recognition for developing the game from as far back as the 1970s, when they were doing the same for women’s hockey as Drake was doing at the University of Alberta and as a mentor to a long list of men who went on to coach in the NHL. The first step in inducting more women? Get a woman on the selection committee. Now. It’s time. There are many well-qualified candidates. Enough is enough.

Damien Cox is the co-host of Prime Time Sports on Sportsnet 590 The FAN. He spent nearly 30 years covering sports for the Star. Follow him @DamoSpin. His column appears Tuesday and Saturday.

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